Defending Class 1A state champion Oakland Mills is favored to win the boys county track title over defending county champ Wilde Lake.
Defending Class 2A state and county champion Long Reach is favored over River Hill and Wilde Lake to win the girls title.
The Mount Hebron boys and girls teams are both expected to show major improvement.
Five boys teams have different head coaches this season: Adrian Valdez and Chad Boothe (Atholton), Roger Volrath (Glenelg), Ken Smith (Mount Hebron), Eric Henlon (Long Reach) and Norm Beldon (River Hill).
Six All-County boys and nine All-County girls performers return.
Here's a look at each county team:
Atholton
New boys coaches Valdez (field events) and Boothe (running events) have a young team whose strength is distance running and the pole vault.
County champion pole vaulter Tony Pesce won the Class 2A state title last season with the second-best jump in any classification.
Distance runner Eddie Lopez, sprinter Josh Smith and shot and discus thrower Pat Schneider are other likely point-scorers. The Raiders finished fifth in the county last season.
Eddie Ivory's girls team finished fourth in the county last season and is looking for a similar showing.
Michell Nelson, who finished second in the state outdoor 200 and won the indoor 55 meters, is the Raiders' marquee performer.
Other top performers include: Ashley Wall (jumps, hurdles), Becky Peterson (pole vault), Amy Bejm (shot, discus), Rachel Smith and Jackie Cook (jumps), Nicolle McMorrin and Stacy Downs (400 and 800).
Centennial
Randy Van Allen is the best all-around performer on an inexperienced boys team that figures to finish in the middle of the pack again. The Eagles finished sixth last season. Van Allen, a junior, can run anywhere from the 400 to the 1,600, high jump or triple jump.
The top field people for coach Al Dodds are three seniors, shot putter Tom Fisher and pole vaulters Charlie Crosby and Drew Maurer.
Senior Matt Tinirella will run 800, hurdles and relays. Senior Kevin Krasnansky is the team's top sprinter.
The distance runners have experience from seniors Tom McAfee and Sean Munjal and sophomore Shawn Spencer.
The Eagles girls team features county champion shot putter Tia Richardson, who finished third in the state shot put and fourth in the state discus.
Others include veteran distance runner Neha Amin, sprinter Lori Fritz, freshman high jumper Lindsay Martin and discus thrower Rachel Lisi.
Coach Carrie Brunskill said her team is young, but has more speed than usual. The team must work hard to reach the middle of the pack.
Glenelg
Jon Goldsmith is the team's top performer running anywhere from 800 to 3,200.
Brian Selmer, defending county champ in the 1,600, hopes to recover from the pneumonia he suffered during indoor season.
Sophomore Phillip Selmer should score in the 300 hurdles and the 400.
Coach Volrath returns as head coach after a year off for health reasons, and expects his team to finish in the top half of the county and do better than that in regions and states. The Gladiators finished ninth in the county last season. Volrath's new assistant coach is former Glenelg runner Joe Scholz.
The Gladiator girls, coached by Mike Selmer, who coached the boys last season, is coming off a state indoor title but is missing four important people from that team.
Four seniors lead the team, including distance runner Blair Henke, miler Kirsten Hogan, sprinter Kristin Smith and hurdler/pole vaulter Lori Tvarkunas, who is the Class 1A state pole vault champion.
Sophomore hurdler Ashley Hall and freshmen middle distance runners Melissa Coble and Carrie Selmer should also help. The Gladiators finished 10th in the county last season.
Hammond
Junior middle distance runners Joe Blasi and Jeremy Miller lead an inexperienced team. Last season, Hammond finished tied for third.
Two other juniors who should score are Steve Rivas in the 3,200 and Greg Lambert in the sprints. Jules Gero is a quick first-year senior sprinter. Other top performers for coach Rich Menendez are P. J. Pfister (pole vault), Dallas Greene and Charles Austin (sprints).
Coach Lee Ann Beal's girls team features Class 1A state high jump (4 feet, 11 inches) champion Nasozi Kakembo, a sophomore.
The Bears also expect more big things from state indoor runner-up shot putter Corey McGrail, a junior, and 10th-place state shot put finisher Lauren Palmer, a sophomore.
Hammond has Meg Tilley, Patti Shelton, Erin Watkins and Megan Inouye running distance. The Bears finished ninth last season.
Howard
Dave Glenn's team finished last and was scoreless at the county meet last season. Only two people return, Glenn said. Junior Barry Dagold runs the 400 and throws shot and discus, and senior Todd Goldfinger runs distance.
Among others participating are distance runners Eric Teetsel and Danny Blackwell, sprinters Antonio Queens, Kevin Berwind, Devontae Mouldon and Waqi Rashid, high jumper Huguens Jeans, hurdler Ryaw Blackwell and pole vaulter Justin Ferguson.
"Our goal is to send as many to states as we can," Glenn said. "There's a lot more enthusiasm this year, but we're very young."
Tony Holland's girls team is also young with just three seniors. It finished eighth last season. "We're going to score more points than in either of the last two years," Holland said.
He'll depend on sophomore distance runner Bridget Baker, an All-County cross country runner. Senior sprinter Ketar Wellons and freshman sprinter Sabrina Oursler should also provide points.
Long Reach
Henlon moves from Wilde Lake to take the Lightning boys job. His specialty is coaching sprinters. Sprinters Keith Loudermill, Luis George and Steve McClurkin should benefit from his expertise.
Kelvin Jones and Kerry Sims are high jumpers. Freshman Mike Brewrink and junior Ryan Strohl run distance. Sophomore James Burkhardt throws the shot.
The team is young and rebuilding after graduating Performer of the Year Chris Smith. The Lightning finished tied for third in the county last season.
Joe Thomas enters his ninth season of coaching girls outdoor teams and has three state titles under his belt, including one last season. The Lightning girls graduated Performer of the Year Thema Napier, who received a full track scholarship to Maryland.
Teyarnte Carter is back, however, and the junior won three in Carter dividual gold medals at the state meet, the 100, 200 and 400 -- the same three events she won as a freshman.
In addition, Thomas hopes his team can sweep the top three places at the county and state meets in the long and triple jumps.
Returning is Class 2A state long jump champ, sophomore Rolanda Howard, who won it with a 16-8 1/2 jump. At a national age group meet last summer, however, she long jumped 18-0. She also triple jumped 36-3 last summer with her club team.
Shayla Moore earned eighth Place and All-American status in triple jump at nationals with a 36-3 1/2, just nipping Howard, which was ninth. She also long jumps 16-plus.
And Cynthia Nicholls is an 18-3 long jumper and 35-plus triple jumper who will also run the 100 hurdles and broke 16 seconds in that event last summer.
Mount Hebron
The Viking boys are looking to improve upon last season's eighth-place finish and expect to have their best team in a long time.
County and region champion Bobby Bergin returns in the high jump. Bergin finished fourth in the Class 2A state meet at 6-4. He also triple jumps.
Others expected to contribute for new coach Smith are: sprinters Dave Maskeroni, Jerry Hicks and Chris James, pole vaulter Bob Hemple, distance runner Clint Miller and discus thrower Shaun Grahe.
"We could finish second or third," new Smith said. "We have a lot of depth."
The Viking girls are deeper and better than last season when they finished seventh in the county.
"This is the strongest preseason team I've seen here," said coach Kevin George. "We're shooting for the top five." The Vikings finished seventh in the county last season.
Leigh Langemeade switched from lacrosse after setting a school record in the 500 during indoor season. She'll run the 400 and relays.
Mia Molfino, who holds the school record for the outdoor mile, and Sheri Hyson are strong senior distance runners.
Shanti Powers is a senior hurdler and pole vaulter who holds the school pole vault record.
Margaret DeCastro is a senior sprinter and Tara Lance is a promising sophomore sprinter.
Oakland Mills
The defending Class 1A state champs finished second in the county to Wilde Lake and hope to rectify that this season.
A fire destroyed most of their equipment, but with sophomore sprinter Kyle Farmer back after winning four state gold medals for the 100, 200, 400 and the 1600 relay, the Scorps have a one-man scoring machine. Farmer also won four state golds during indoor season.
Others expected to score include: Aharon McKoy (discus), Nick Fambro ( hurdles, shot, discus), Tom Browne (800, 400, relays) and Alex Bailey (800, 1600). Browne, All-Metro in football, finished second in the Class 1A state 800 last season.
The Scorpion girls finished third last season and again look to finish in the top five. They are led by Danielle Stoddart in the 800 and 1,600, freshman sprinter Reesa Phillips and sophomore sprinters Deann Jones and Rachel Clinton.
Also expected to score points are Amy Foreman (hurdles), Molly Sunderdick ( 400, 800, 1,600), senior distance runners Sarah Condon and Lan Gardner and shot-putter Sabrina Altema.
River Hill
Distance running is the team's strength as the Hawks hope to finish in the top four. Mike Prada, Steve Chu and Mike Styzynski are all quality distance runners.
Other point-getters for coach Beldon will be Tyler Young (pole vault), Evan Prucha (jumps), James Garrett and Jason Tyson (sprints) and Brad Tomaski (jumps, hurdles). The Hawks finished sixth last season.
The girls team, fifth in the county last season but expected to improve, features Class 2A state 3,200 champion Lee McDuff, who was second in the state 1,600. Also strong in distance events is Kelli Bloch.
Expected to pile up points are sprinters Rashida Walcott and Amy Roberts, shot and discus throwers Courtney Savoy and Munca Slade, middle distance runner Susan Wilson and jumper Kristi Parco.
Wilde Lake
Coach Charles Shoemaker's defending county boys champs are hoping to repeat with some tough relay teams and outstanding sprinters like Andrew Sterling, Mario Merrills and Raney Holmes. Sterling is the defending county 100 and 200 champ.
Basketball star Jerome Parkinson is a new addition who figures to produce points in the jumps and hurdles. Ben Coffman and Matt Daddio offer some quality in the distace events.
The Wildecats girls should score points in many events for coach Dave Brown with special strength in the shot, discus and relays.
Tolika Wilson won the county discus and finished second at Class 3A states. Bri Herring is also strong in both those events.
Another county champ was Julie Bergin in the high jump. She also won at regions.
Others expected to score points are: Leonie Prao (sprints), Rebecca Novinski, Ashley Etue and Princessa Brown (middle distance), and Kristen Jones (hurdles and sprints). The Wildecats finished second in the county last season.